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 County results Hutchinson: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Bryant: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Arkansas |
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The 1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator David Pryor decided to retire. Republican Tim Hutchinson won the open seat, becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas since Reconstruction in 1872 and the first to ever be popularly elected in the state. He was the first to win this seat since 1870. Hutchinson lost re-election in 2002 to David Pryor's son Mark Pryor.
In the concurrent presidential election in Arkansas, Democrat Bill Clinton — a native Arkansan who previously served as Governor — defeated Republican Bob Dole. To date, this is the last time that Republicans flipped a Senate seat in a presidential election year despite losing the state in the presidential election.
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